Brothers
by DeliciousLies
Summary: Post-Avengers. Loki and Thor are back on Asgard, and Loki is awaiting punishment for his crimes. Can Thor talk his brother into seeing his mistakes? And can Loki really keep up his cold facade? No Slash, unless you really want to read it that way.


**Hi, readers! I wrote this while in a very Loki and Thor brotherly mood! I'm sorry if it's out of character for either of them, but I'm a fan of stuff like this! I hope you enjoy!**

He felt it was his job to protect his younger brother. It was something he had always done. Even since the time they were both little, he had protected his baby brother. Sure, he wasn't the best at it, he had never said he was, but he tried. He had been selfish, arrogant, and mean. He acknowledged that now. But still throughout the course of all this time, protecting his brother had been a priority.

Now as Thor gazed upon his younger brother, Loki, he felt as if he had failed with the only proper job he had ever been charged with.

Loki sat alone on the cold, damp stone floor of his prison. He was powerless. There was no way he could get out. Odin, the man he had once called Father, had made sure of that. Three of the four walls were thick stone. The door was a force field of magic. A force field that, had Loki had his magic at full capacity, could easily have been broken. But Loki's magic was not at full power. Every precaution had been taken to make sure it wasn't. Others with magic were brought in to restrain his magic. Even the cell itself stopped him from using magic. Loki could do nothing but sit there and rot.

Loki stared at the floor. He knew Thor was watching him, but he didn't dare look up. He didn't want to see his bro- _Thor_, he corrected himself. Thor was no brother of his. Thor was Odin's son, the golden boy of Asgard. Loki was Laufey's son, one of the feared ice giants. He had no place here in Asgard. No place, no family. And Thor was a fool to believe otherwise.

Thor looked at his younger brother, offering him the chance to speak first. After about twenty minutes, it was fairly obvious Loki had no intentions of striking up a conversation with the hammer wielding blonde.

"Brother," Thor began, being careful to hide the emotion in his voice from the trickster. Still, Loki looked at the floor, not acknowledging Thor. "Brother, why did you do this to yourself?" his voice sounded pained, it hurt him to see Loki locked up like this.

Loki raised his head to look straight forward, still not at the Asgardian oaf on the other side of his prison door, with an expression of disbelief on his face. Was Thor truly stupid enough to believe he had meant for this to happen? Loki sighed and placed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "Thor," he said his voice slightly strained, as if talking to a small child who still did not understand the lesson they were being taught after hours of trying to teach them. "What are you doing here?" Then with a bit of malice in his tone he said, "The prince of Asgard should not be seen with the likes of me. What am I but one of the terrible Frost Giants?"

"You are my brother!" Thor cried, his broken emotions no longer hidden from the younger brother. He was hurt that Loki could not see how much Thor truly cared for him. "Why did you do this?"

Loki turned to face his brother, "I just wanted to have some fun."

"Fun?" Thor cried, outraged. "How could you think that, Loki? You killed people! You cannot truly feel this way!"

Loki sighed and rolled his eyes, turning away from the man he grew up with. He refused to let Thor know how he truly felt. He refused to let him know how much the guilt of those dead gnawed at him as he now had time to think. He refused to let him know how much he had begun to hate himself in the time since he had fallen off of the bifrost. He refused to let him know how much he really needed his big brother right now. Instead, he put on an exterior of hatred and indifference.

"Loki! Have you forgotten all the times we played together in the gardens? All the times we relied on each other when we had no one else?" Thor yelled at the dark-haired man, who looked more like a boy now, behind the force field door.

Loki sighed an aggravated, exasperated sigh. "Those times have passed, and the boy you knew then is long gone, Thor."

"I refuse to believe that. Loki, do you realize what pain you've caused us all? What pain you've caused Father?" Thor now sounded pleading, trying to reach the Loki he had known.

"_Your_ father!" Loki spit at Thor. "And," he added, sadness tainting his angry exterior, "his only pain is that I've tainted his wonderful reputation."

"What about the pain you've caused Mother?" Thor asked, knowing this would strike Loki. Loki and Frigga had always been close. Much closer than she had been with Thor. She would sit as Loki read her books and would always be delighted whenever her little boy performed his magic.

This new information did hit Loki hard. He turned to look at Thor, looking more like a little boy then ever previously. "What pain have I caused Mother?" Loki asked, holding back tears. Even though Loki no longer accepted Odin as his father, he would always call Frigga his mother. Frigga was the person who had always believed in him. She had been there to dry his tears, tend to him during illness, and calm his fears. Loki loved his mother.

"She fears for you, brother. She fears the path you're headed down. She misses her son." Thor replied, looking at Loki to gauge his reaction. Loki turned away to hide the tears welling in the corners of his eyes. "And I miss my brother…" Thor continued.

Loki could no longer help it. He began to cry. At first just silent tears, then racking sobs that shook his whole body. He missed his mother, and he missed his brother. He missed the life he had had. He wished he could go back to simpler times when he and Thor felt as if they could take on the world together as long as they had each other's backs.

"Brother," Thor said, softly. He sat on the floor outside of his cell so that he and Loki were on the same level. "Brother, please. You and I can get through this together."

"Thor," Loki said, turning to face his brother. "My older brother, there is no going back for me. I am past redemption. I killed innocent people, I pushed you away, and I hurt Mother." Loki turned to the far wall so all Thor could see was the shaking form of his sobbing little brother.

Thor stood and walked into the hall to summon a guard who opened the door to Loki's cell, allowing Thor in before reclosing it. Thor walked up to his little brother and crouched down on the floor. He reached out and touched the shoulder of the shaking figure in front of him.

Loki turned at the touch, eyes full of tears, and flung himself into the arms of his older brother. Thor watched him cry for a while, just embracing the younger. After a while he pushed Loki up and said, "Loki, you are my baby brother and I care for you greatly. I promise you, we will get through this. Now rest. We may be able to see this better in the morning."

Loki nodded sadly and crawled toward the pallet laid out for him to sleep on. Thor stood and began to summon a guard. "Th-Thor?" Loki asked, eyes red and puffy, voice weak and quiet (a strange occurrence for the Silver-tongued god).

"Yes?" Thor said, turning to face his brother.

"W-Will you stay here until I go to sleep?" Loki asked, feeling slightly embarrassed. This is a request he hadn't made since they were little, but he had such horrid nightmares as of lately. When he was younger he would crawl into bed with Thor and wouldn't have the nightmare again, and that memory is what made Loki make this request now.

Thor understood instantly, recalling the same memories as Loki. "Of course," Thor said, sitting down onto the ground, staying until Loki was deep in sleep.


End file.
